


Hello Neighbour

by Herminbean



Series: Doctor Doctor [12]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Humor, Multiple Doctors (Doctor Who), One Shot, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25129258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Herminbean/pseuds/Herminbean
Summary: The Doctor and Jamie find themselves stranded and running out of time
Relationships: Second Doctor & Jamie McCrimmon, Thirteenth Doctor & Second Doctor
Series: Doctor Doctor [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1213392
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	Hello Neighbour

“Wakey wakey, Doctor.”

The Scottish voice drifted into the Doctors subconscious as if it were a million miles away. He shook the fog from his eyes and blinked himself back to reality. The TARDIS console hummed gently before him, the view of it being broken by a hand waving directly in front of him. The Doctor turned his attention to the owner of the hand.

“Jamie?” His voice sounded a little foreign to himself. He cleared his throat and shook his head again. “Aah, Jamie. Sorry about that. Was a million miles away.”

Jamie looked at the Doctor with a curious look. “Ye don’t say.” He drawled in his thick accent. “Ah wis worried you’d gaen somewhere even the TARDIS coudna reach ye.”

“Yes, well, thank you for your concern.” The Doctor shot him a smile. “If it happens again, I’ll be sure to send you a postcard.”

He turned his attention to the console, jabbing at the buttons and twisting the dials. Jamie sidled up beside him.

“Are ye sure ye shuid be daein' that?” He asked. “Ah mean, ye struggle tae fly this thing on a guid day, let alone whin yer constantly zoning oot.”

“Struggle to fly this thing?” The Doctor retorted, indignantly. “I’d like to see you do better.”

“Really?” Jamie said, excitedly. He made a move to the controls.

The Doctor held out a hand, stopping Jamie in his tracks. “Ah, perhaps not, eh? Earth in the 18th century isn’t exactly known for its time travel machine driving lessons.”

“Oh, and ah suppose ye nailed the lesson whin ye teuk it, eh?” Jamie snarked. 

“I’ll let you know when I get around to it.” The Doctor said with a grin. 

He tweaked a dial and the room jolted to life. Humming and wheezing as the TARDIS hurtled through the time vortex. The Doctor knew he would never get tired off that noise. The sound of everything surrounding him. Endless possibility in his grasp at the simple press of a button. The TARDIS truly was an incredible ship. True, she was getting on. He remembered even as a young lad he was told that these type 40 TARDIS were out of date. A mere reminder of how far the Timelords had come. Despite being told that, he had always found himself marvelling at them. He almost felt drawn to them, as if he could see himself within them. 

“Doctor.”

Jamie’s voice brought him crashing back to reality again. He shook his head and the console room returned, along with a low, dread inducing sound.

“The cloister bell.” The Doctor exclaimed. 

The bell was the TARDIS way of giving warning. The Doctor jabbed at the console frantically, reading the diagnosis. Nothing seemed to be wrong, all systems checked out. Still, the bell persisted. He double checked the readouts. Nothing.

“Whit’s wrong?” Jamie asked, worry mounting in his voice.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor admitted. “But whatever it is, I won’t figure it out while travelling.”

The Doctor slammed his hand on a button, and the TARDIS whirred down to silence. It seemed to envelope the two.

“Did we land?” Jamie asked cautiously.

“No. That could have caused more problems. We’re still in the time vortex. Just sort of paused.”

“Is that safe?” 

“Of course.” The Doctor rubbed his hands nervously. “Well, not really. But safer than landing…maybe.”

Jamie let out a short, nervous laugh. “Forgive me if ah don’t fin' that encouraging, Doctor.”

“No, I’m not too comforted myself, truth be told.” The Doctor checked the readings. “Still, we should be OK for a few minutes at least.”

“How long is a few minutes?”

The Doctor tried to put on a confident tone. “Between one and more than one I’d say.”

“Confidence fading fast, Doctor.” Jamie snapped.

The Doctor shrugged. “Look, let’s take this as a good thing. Here in the time vortex, there is zero chance of us being attacked by some outside entity. Out there is nothing that can really hurt us. We’re alone.”

The Doctor didn’t want to believe he heard the knocking at first. It was impossible. His mind wanted to dismiss it as his imagination. He might have done just that, if it hadn’t been for Jamie.

“Doctor,” He said, slowly. “someone’s at the door.”

The Doctor didn’t say anything. He just stared at the doors, his mind racing. He had heard rumours. Perhaps it was possible. Some kind of being could live in the vortex. It was impossible, but what was so wrong with that?

The knocking filled the room once more. The Doctor found himself reaching for the switch for the door. His hand hovered over it. Did he dare?

Another volley of knocks.

“We’re nae gaun tae answer, are we?” Jamie’s eyes were fixed on the doors along with the Doctors.

The Doctor smiled. “Now Jamie, that would be rude.”

With a flick of a switch, the doors buzzed open.

The vortex rushed past the open doors, and yet seemed to create no noise or disturbance. The Doctor hadn’t seen that raw power since he was a child. Looking into the time vortex was one of the initiations all Timelords had to go through. The untempered schism. It was terrifying. It was all the power of time and space. What sort of being could survive that much power?

The stick floated around the TARDIS doors. It bobbed up and down almost as if it were studying the two travellers. The Doctor could scarcely believe his eyes. It was without a doubt a simple stick. Possibly a branch. Either way, it did not belong here. 

The Doctor approached the doors, squinting through the time winds beyond the stick. It was hard to make out, but it stretched back into the wild storm. In the colourful winds was a blurry shape. A box with a figure. The figure seemed to be waving frantically at him. He could just make out words on the box.

Police.

“Whit is it?” Jamie’s voice came from over the Doctors shoulder.

“I think,” The Doctor replied. “it’s me.”

The box was unmistakably a blue police box now. The Doctor could see it more clearly now that he had figured out what it was. It appeared to be far bigger than his own box. A bit intrusive, the Doctor thought. Certainly wasn’t from his past, that was for sure.

The stick retreated back into the storm as the figure reeled it in. The Doctor squinted to try and make out what his future self was doing, but the winds blocked his view. All he could make out was the figure seemed to be wearing a light blue jacket and possibly a colourful top underneath. He had to admit, he was rather jealous. What he’d give for a bit more colour in his life.

The stick appeared from the whirl of colour once again. This time, it had something on the end of it. The Doctor reached forward and plucked it from the stick, turning it over in his hand.

“Whit is that?” Jamie asked trying to peer over the Doctors shoulder.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. In his hand was a metal can. An empty metal can. A piece of string was attached to the bottom that lead back over to his future self.

A small, tinny voice came from the can, causing Jamie to jump back. 

_“Hello neighbour, can I borrow some sugar?”_

The Doctor raised the can to his mouth. “You do know, we have communication systems here that have been created by the most advanced beings in the universe?”

He held the can to his ear and the tinny voice responded.

_“And I had two cans and some string.”_

The Doctor paused. “Hard to argue with that.”

“Doctor, are ye talking tae a can?” Jamie asked, bemused.

The Doctor looked back at him, considered explaining, but settled with “Yes.”

Jamie threw up his hands. “right, o’ coorse ye are.”

_“Is that Jamie?”_ The tinny voice said, excitedly. _“Say hello from me, would you?”_

The Doctor turned back to Jamie. “The can says hello.”

Jamie opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. He gave a shrug followed by a little wave to the can.

The Doctor turned his attention back to the can. “So, what brings you here? I assume you don’t really need any sugar?”

_“Oh, I was just passing through. My cloister went off, thought I should stop and check everything was alright, and then I spotted you. I sort of expected it at this point. Thought I’d say hi. Probably would have been better to move on, but why fight it at this point. Also, I would feel bad leaving you out.”_

The Doctor wrestled with that for a second. What did they mean by “leave him out”? Did he want to know? He had quite enough on his plate as it was. What with his own cloisters going off, he didn’t really have time for this foolishness. Then again, he couldn’t help but smile slightly. This had been a welcome distraction. It was nice to see he wouldn’t stop enjoying a little bit of foolishness every now and again. When he was back on Gallifrey he would always butt in on the serious teachings going on with a little bit of light-hearted fun. He had tried, anyway. The higher ups were not fond of that at all. There they were, talking about the dangers of the universe to the rest of the students, and the Doctor couldn’t resist crafting a device that produced a small projection of the creature they were discussing right in the middle of the room. It always managed to cause such a panic, much to the Doctors amusement. Not that his fellow students joined in with the laughter. He had always felt like such an outsider. 

It was the tinny voice that brought the Doctor back this time.

_“You still there? Hello?”_

The fog raised and the Doctor was back standing in the time vortex with his Scottish friend from the 18th century by his side with a can and string telephone in his hand talking to his future self. He found it amusing that his reality was more insane than his daydreams at this point.

“Sorry about that, miles away.” He said, groggily. Why was even this failing to hold his attention? He needed to focus. 

A loud _BONG_ from the cloister helped with that. He had almost forgotten how long they had been stationary within the time vortex. The TARDIS was not strong enough to withstand the storm for too long. Especially not with the doors wide open like this.

_“Are you getting the “We’re all about to be torn apart by the time vortex” vibes over there as well?”_ The tinny voice said.

“There is an “Abandon all hope” feeling, yes.” The Doctor agreed.

_“Out of time then. I was going to explain everything, but…”_

“…but I’ll find out myself soon enough anyway.” The Doctor said in a friendly tone. 

There was a pause from the can. _“I wish we had more time.”_ It said with a touch of sadness through the tinniness.

The Doctor chortled. “I think too much time is exactly our problem right now.”

Another pause followed by a tinny laugh. _“You got me there.”_

Another _BONG_ echoed through the TARDIS. The Doctor held himself steady as the TARDIS jolted violently, almost knocking him through the doors. The can slipped from his hand and was hurled into the colourful winds, spinning as it went. He tried to grab for it instinctually, but a hand took hold of his collar, pulling him back into the TARDIS. Jamie and the Doctor stumbled backwards, falling to the floor in a heap. The Doctor turned back to the open doors. He could just make out the blurry outline of his future self. They were waving again, more frantically this time. And just like that, the box and its occupant disappeared into the storm.

“Doctor, we’ve got tae go.” Jamie shouted over the increasing rumbling of the TARDIS.

The Doctor sprang to his feet and darted to the console. He closed the TARDIS doors, spun a few dials, and the console hummed back to life. Another jolt knocked him away from the console, but he quickly gained his footing and pulled himself closer. Another flurry of twisting dials and jabbing buttons, and the wheezing began. The TARDIS jolted one last time, and with a _THUNK_ , all was still.

Jamie took a few cautious steps forward. “Are we…did we land?”

The Doctor checked the readouts. “It certainly seems so. No idea where though.”

Jamie let out a sigh of relief. “As lang as we’re nae in that dang storm anymore, I’m happy.”

The Doctor and Jamie slumped down to the floor, exhausted. They lay there for a few seconds, panting. Jamie looked over at the Doctor.

“So,” He said breathlessly. “what next?”

The Doctor tilted his head back. “I think,” He felt his eyes grow heavy. “I think I just need a minute.”

Darkness took him.


End file.
